Before we left Gibraltar I had contacted Marbella Marine to reserve a couple of berths for us for the following day when the weather was due to deteriorate, although we don’t like going in Marinas we realised that it was the only safe option and as the marina was cheaper than staying in Gibraltar we though it made sense to head there as at least we get to see somewhere new and move a little way into the Mediterranean!

We planned to anchor outside the marina for the first night but when we arrived the waves crashing onto the beach meant that the anchorage was not an option so we called the marina and asked if we could go in a day early which wasn’t a problem so we headed in and we moored on the waiting berth - with the strong cross wind we decided that it would be foolish to try and get Innamorata onto the mooring they had allocated, the berth was stern to with laid lines so first you throw stern lines to marinero helping to secure the stern - they then pick up a laid line which has to be taken to the front of the boat and pull hard on and then secured, this all takes a couple of minutes during which time without the help of a bow thruster we would have been blown sideways and got into a bit of a mess! Hence we stayed the night on the waiting pontoon, Falkor arrived a short time after us and with the aid of their bowthruser managed to get into a berth, we both had a pretty bouncy unpleasant night - the docks are all concrete which when you are along side its always horrible because our fenders pick up bits of grit and scratch the hull.